200705 May – England

200705

TUESDAY 1 MAY 2007 – Rod has told us about a
huge blue and yellow parrot that flies around the area. Now we know that
England is suffering from global warming but parrots flying around is taking
things a bit far.Actually it must be a
pet as it talks and even swears on Rods video clip.The bird appears on a tree in next doors garden to be chased off
by the neighbour.The moment he turns
his back the parrot returns to peck at his tree and so the game continues.Daz has offered to pick us up at 9am.We are borrowing Jimmy’s trailer again so
that we can pick up the new kitchen worktops and a few other heavy things.Unfortunately Daz gets lost, hasn’t got the
address with him and has no phone reception so has to back track towards
Keighley in order to make contact with us meaning he doesn’t arrive until about
10.30am.By the time we get back to
Keighley Jimmy has gone out and we can’t get the trailer so it’s been a wasted
few hours when we could have been cracking on with the decorating.Get stuck in and manage to complete most of
the bathroom, paint all the radiators and begin on the upper landing.We can see we are not going to be finished
by Saturday morning so Steve chats to neighbour Richard and engages his
services at £25 day from tomorrow. We’ve just time to go back to Bingley and have a bath before Mick
picks us up.Lisa is cooking us a meal
and we are spending the evening with them.They are having a new drive laid and have been busy building a wall
around their front garden and it all looks very nice.Sian has changed a lot since last year; she looks much older and
is more confident.After dinner we
settle in the lounge so that the Liverpool fans, Steve and Lisa, can watch the
crucial Champions League semi final against Chelsea where a win will put them
through to the final in Athens.David
is at the match and text messages fly between him, Lisa and Netty.It’s very tense as extra time is needed
after Liverpool’s 1-0 score means a draw on aggregate.After 30 minutes with no goals it is penalty
shoot out time.Lisa and Steve cringe
but are ecstatic when Liverpool save 2 goals and score 4 for a win.David is dead chuffed as he has already
bought his ticket to Greece.

BINGLEY

WEDNESDAY 2 MAY – The day gets off to a better
start with Daz arriving at 9am to pick us up in Bingley, collect the trailer
then go for the worktops.Asserting my
women’s prerogative I have had a last change of mind and decide to go for navy
blue marble style worktops in an effort to make the kitchen look more
modern.I wander into town and arrive
at the house to find neighbour Richard and Steve hard at it with obvious
progress.Claire again helps out by
running me around during her lunch hour.We need to buy 2 new plinths for under the kitchen cupboards but can’t
find any in stock anywhere.On the plus
side we use Claire’s friends trade card again to buy 10 litre paint tubs for
£13.49 + VAT (tot £15.85), we have now used 5.We are deliberately leaving the lounge to last as the laminate floor is
staying put but all the other rooms and the stairways are well under way by the
end of the day.With just 2 days before
the kitchen and carpet fitters arrive it looks like the project has a chance of
coming together.

BINGLEY 2

THURSDAY 3 MAY –Normal morning routing with
Steve going straight to the house and me to the shops.Focus had no plinths in stock yesterday and
won’t be getting any for 2 weeks but I want them to phone nearby branches to
see if they have any in stock.There’s
a different person at the enquiry desk today and they want to know why I want
one from a different depot when they have them in stock!There is only 1 showing on computer but they
find 2 in the warehouse and that’s exactly what I want.(A definite déjà vu of the situations we
encountered in Africa).I’m reluctant
to leave them for later collection as I may never see them again, they won’t
fit in my trusty trolley bag so I lug them on my shoulders for the 5 mile hike
up to the house, actually it’s less than a mile but fells like 5.I arrive to find Steve and Richard working
hard, Steve on the last of the emulsion and Richard glossing.We’re nearly out of paint again so I do an
about turn for a trolley run to get more.Richard John calls round late afternoon and agrees that the floorboards
we have exposed are not fit for carpet or lino to be laid.We must have the kitchen floor screed and
hardwood over the floorboards in the worst rooms.Steve is staying in the house overnight as he is going to bowling
but Claire comes to pick me up and take me home.We pick up some ready meals from the Co-op and once she has left
I give the flat a bit of a clean.

BINGLEY 3

FRIDAY 4 MAY – When I arrive Steve is already at work trying to figure
out the floorboard problem amongst other things.I begin ironing and hanging the curtains before having another
scrub at the kitchen cupboards.The
carpets and lino are delivered but the bathroom lino is not what I
ordered!Richard John arrives late
afternoon to scree the kitchen floor before giving us a lift home.

BINGLEY
4

SATURDAY 5 MAY – Steve goes on ahead leaving
me to change the beds and give the flat a last tidy up.I pick up a worktop support pole but arrive
to find it is too thick and would stop anyone fitting a washing machine into
the gap.Harry is busy doing the
carpentry and Richard and Scott are laying carpets.Harry must repair the floorboards on the stair and landing before
any carpet can be laid but gets delayed when he realises he has locked his keys
inside his van.About an hour later he
has broken in a got them but now realises he doesn’t have enough nails to
complete the job.I set out on the long
walk to the timber merchants and arrive back 1 hour later to find he has
finished for the day (it’s only just lunch time) leaving us in a mess.Richard and Scott end up carpeting the
stairs above and below the damaged steps and manage to get the 4 bedrooms
done.The dark beige carpet looks
really good with the magnolia walls and fresh white paintwork.Richard and Scott leave to lay a new carpet
in Richards lounge.I clean the kitchen
cupboards (again as dust keeps coming in), rip off all the old fablon and
varnish the wooden edges and knobs.Spend the evening and night at Richards.Sharon is away but their 10-year-old daughter Lauren is home so
we raid the freezer for snack meals.

KEIGHLEY, RIDDLESDEN

SUNDAY 6 MAY – After bacon butties for
breakfast Richard runs us round to the house.Steve potters round doing preparation work for tomorrow and I begin
putting new fablon on the kitchen cupboard doors.Mum and Dad arrive having returned from their Canary Island
cruise yesterday.We look at their
photos and chat before Claire turns up with the children.Head round the “The Bridge” pub where we are
meeting Netty & Mark for lunch.Claire
has gone ahead to secure a table for 9 and told them we will be ordering
separately but want all the main courses served at the same time.There’s a very long delay before our meals
arrive with starters and mains arrive simultaneously.Claire is given chicken and chips instead of the chicken roast
dinner and Steve’s salmon is obviously boil in the bag and looks and tastes
like it still is in the bag.The
manageress offers to bring Claire some veg to go with her meal and changes
Steve’s for scampi. We order desserts
but they take ages to come and one is wrong.We’ve been at the restaurant for almost 3 hours by now and are getting
very fed up.Daz has even had time to
play his round of golf and join us for a drink.We are overcharged on the bill with Steve and Claire being
charged for the expensive meals they didn’t have and another meal added to the
bill that should have been free as part of the 2 for 1 deal.They offer to re do it and in view of all
the other problems to knock the desserts off. It’s still wrong on the subsequent 2 attempts so Steve asks to see
the Manageress who eventually agrees to wipe the whole thing out.We are not alone as we have been entertained
by many other people being served wrong meals and having huge delays however
our tactic of quietly complaining to the management seems to have paid off
whereas others have been very vocal and slammed wrong meals back on the
counter.Steve shows Netty & Mark
our Parkwood Street house before joining the rest of us at Claire’s.Everyone leaves in dribs and drabs and we
return to Parkwood with Natasha who is going to camp over with us.With her help I manage to finish the kitchen
cupboards before settling down for the night.A most uncomfortable one, with the airbeds collapsing and the foam
mattress too thin to be of any use.

KEIGHLEY 2, PARKWOOD STREET

MONDAY 7 MAY – It’s a bank holiday so Natasha
does not have to be up early for school.I am only too happy to get up early out of my uncomfortable bed and do a
bit of tidying up. No matter how often
I tidy and clean, the house messes itself up twice as fast but if I don’t do it
we will never be able to find anything.Natasha has a toy rubber alien in a container with a separate
heart.You are supposed to do something
to keep the alien alive so I perform open-heart surgery with a Stanley knife to
try and fit it in place but the body is not big enough.End up fitting the heart into the alien’s
head leaving it looking like ET much to Natasha’s amusement.She has another one and encouraged by me
throws it at the unpainted walls in the lounge to see how it lands.Great fun.Claire arrives to pick up Natasha and I join them for a grocery shop and
to borrow some warmer clothes.I arrive
back and am pleasantly surprised to find both Richard and Harry at work but
less than pleased to find that half the ceiling on the stairs has fallen in
when Harry removed the wooden plank above it.Not only that but the plaster has fallen onto the new stair carpet.
There’s nothing I can do to help, the water and electric are off and it’s cold
so I head off for a look around town but find all the shops closed.End up at Claire’s where I have an enjoyable
relaxing afternoon and a bath before returning to the building site.Harry has “finished” but close inspection
reveals that he has cut one worktop shorter than before meaning there is no
longer enough space for a washing machine and the other one over the sink he
has cut back too shallow and all the water runs over into the drawers and
cupboards.The cooker that was working
before they moved it to do the worktops is no longer functioning, as the oven
won’t heat up!

KEIGHLEY 3, PARKWOOD STREET

TUESDAY 8 MAY – It’s a miserable rainy day but
we force ourselves to press on and get the lounge painted.We have to laugh when the alien shapes come
through the first coat of paint.Claire
arrives at lunchtime and takes me to buy some bonding plaster for the
ceiling.Neighbour Jimmy helps out by
knocking lots more loose plaster down the stairs before doing a reasonable
patch up job.

KEIGHLEY 4, PARKWOOD STREET

WEDNESDAY 9 MAY – Both up early doing more
painting but still the aliens come back to haunt us.Steve sands down then paints the ceiling repair and then puts yet
another coat on the lounge walls but there is no covering the aliens,
spooky.Chat to Stephen next door but
one and he mentions that he is on wi-fi Internet and I am welcome to use
it.He gives me his network key and
that’s the last Steve sees of me for the day as I shut myself away in the attic
doing research.

KEIGHLEY 5, PARKWOOD STREET

THURSDAY 10 MAY – I manage to get lots of
things sorted on the Internet including a possible motorhome to buy in
Boston.Steve takes a break to play
snooker with Richard in the afternoon.I go out to town with Mom & Dad.Rod & Nancy pick us up for bowling in the evening and we both get to
play in different teams.It takes quite
awhile for me to relax into the game and get used to having less mobility in my
ankle but I stave off embarrassment by making the 100 in each game, just.

KEIGHLEY 6, PARKWOOD STREET

FRIDAY 11 MAY – We’ve had no interest from
anyone wanting to rent the house and are now considering selling instead.An agent calls round to do a valuation but
we are not sure whether to believe his talk as he used to be a time-share
salesman.It’s Daniels turn for a
sleepover in the evening and like Natasha he is no trouble at all.

KEIGHLEY 7, PARKWOOD STREET

SATURDAY 12 MAY – Claire calls round and stays
for a while before dropping me down town.The house is coming together nicely and there are really only a few
small finishing touches but we have run out of steam and what should have been
just a full days work has taken us all week.Claire runs us up to Rod & Nancy’s where we enjoy a Chinese take
away and stay overnight.

WILSDEN

SUNDAY 13 MAY – Claire picks us up to take us
back to Keighley.Natasha’s friend
Rosie stayed over last night and she is also in the car.Daniel stayed at another friends so Claire
has to pick him up after dropping us off.Claire’s taxi service definitely deserves a recommendation!Steve is getting stuck in plastering the
cellar so stays at home working whilst we go to Subway for lunch.Harry arrives mid afternoon and does a
pretty good job sorting out the worktop problem.Meanwhile Claire has taken me to Bingley to buy a new cooker in
the sale at £130.By evening the
kitchen looks pretty darn good.

KEIGHLEY 8, PARKWOOD STREET

MONDAY 14 MAY – I take a walk down town to get
some low lights put in my hair and get back in time to meet Andrew the estate
agent from Green Partnership.He
presents us with a very interesting fact sheet listing all properties sold
along Parkwood Street in the last 10 years along with the price.Some have been sold many times over, most are
now in the hands of investors and all have gone up in price but seem to be
levelling out. Using the internet I complete the negotiation for us to buy a 8
berth “c” class 29’ ex rental motorhome in Boston and secure it with a deposit.It’s amazing just how much can be achieved
solely by computer nowadays.At 5pm we
get Michelle from Whitegates who gives us an immediate valuation at well over
£100,000 but suggests marketing at £99,950 for a quick sale – definitely overpriced
in our opinion but a nice thought.

KEIGHLEY 9, PARKWOOD STREET

TUESDAY 15 MAY – A visit to the doctors to
stock up on my prescription medicine then it’s back to work on the Internet to
get our travel insurance booked.Claire
calls in at lunchtime with the faxed bill of sale for our purchase of
“Harry”.We’re on top of the house
renovations so spend the evening doing preliminary travel planning and reckon
that as we are arriving in Boston we should begin by heading north up into
Canada and across to Alaska to arrive there mid summer.Realise our planning is limited as we don’t
have a guidebook for Canada but that can easily be put right.The man from the second hand shop calls in
but all the things we are getting rid of are too old or no longer legal.He admires the house and asks me if we would
consider lesbian tenants with children.He is a friend of one who is looking for a large house to rent so I give
him our details.

KEIGHLEY 10, PARKWOOD STREET

WEDNESDAY 16 MAY – I’m up early enough to get
in a winning bid for a telephone on E-bay, £5 + p&p.We need a tri-band one for the States and we
are baffled by all the new fangled ones so I have settled on a really cheap
basic model.I also order a Rough Guide
to Canada on the Internet through W.H. Smith.It’s much cheaper than the in store price and they offer free delivery
to your local store for collection!Vicky and her partner Fay call round in the evening and love the
house.Vicky wants to move in with her
5 children who range from 2 to 10 years and is really keen.We direct them to the agents then spend the
rest of the evening discussing whether they would be the right kind of tenants
or not.

KEIGHLEY 11, PARKWOOD STREET

THURSDAY 17 MAY – Mom and Dad call round in
the morning and drive us around town to tie up lose ends.There’s a new Chinese restaurant called
“Alfe’s” opened on Church Green and we take them there for the £5 buffet lunch
and it’s excellent.Call in to Martin
& Co agents and find that Vicky has called them but that as agents they
won’t take on DSS tenants.We are now
leaning towards selling and ask agent Angela if she is interested in buying
properties (she has many of her own that she lets) or knows anyone who is.She gives us the name and phone number of
Vaughan, also a friend of Richard Johns, who may be interested.Just after we leave the office we get a
phone call from Vicky pleading with us to let her rent the house.She seems nice so we tell her we will think
about it.Call back to the agents to
pick up some papers and Vaughan walks into the office.We explain about selling the house and he
will talk it over with his wife.Get
back home late afternoon.We speak to
Vicky and tell her we may take her on as a private tenant subject to
referencing and insurance.She arranges
to call round to complete the referencing application.Vaughan phones and asks to come round with
his wife at 8.30pm.It’s starting to
get a bit complicated but at least we have been honest with them all about our
situation.We both set about giving the
house a last thorough clean and tidy up.Vaughan and Sue arrive first but Vicky arrives before they leave.I take Vicky upstairs to complete the
computer application and Steve gets a lift to bowling with Vaughan and
Sue.Vicky stays for ages and she has
just left when Vaughan phones to say they want to come back and make an
offer.They arrive and offer less than
the already lowered price we put to them but not that much lower.I’m most surprised to hear a knock on the
door and find it’s 11.30pm and Steve is back from bowling.We have so much in common with Vaughan and
Sue that they stay chatting until after midnight then leave us to mull over
their offer.So suddenly we have people
wanting to buy and a tenant wanting to rent, which way to go?Not much time to ponder, as we still
haven’t packed our stuff up.Needless
to say it is very late when we get to bed, I won’t say to sleep, as we are both
restless with a million and one thoughts going through our heads.

KEIGHLEY 12, PARKWOOD STREET

FRIDAY 18 MAY – Unsurprisingly we are both up
early.Luckily we have both come to the
same conclusion.The house has never
looked better and property prices may rise but we feel we could afford to drop
out of the property market for a year or so without too much loss.As a 4-bedroom property in not such a good
area we are more likely to attract difficult tenants which is not such a
problem if you are on hand to deal with it but a big problem given our
lifestyle.We both think we would be better
selling up and maybe next time we are back buying something like a 1-bedroom
flat aimed at a business person.However we could do with upping the offer price and feel bad about
raising Vicky’s rental hopes.Contact
Vaughan to try to agree on a mid price and he will get back to us.Daz calls round at 9.15am to load up the
things we borrowed from them and to take us to the bus station.It’s after 9.30am so the bus from Keighley
to Leeds is only £1.50.During the
journey Vaughan calls and says he can’t increase his offer but proposes that we
take Vicky on as a tenant and keep the rent until the date the sale is
completed thus giving us a bit more money.The ball is back in our court as we are left to think over this option.Arrive in Leeds around 11am and change to
the National Express bus stationed at the opposite side of the building.We’ve got a fun fare price of £4 from Leeds
to Manchester and it’s a straightforward journey.I get a call from the referencing agency to say there was a fault
in the Internet application process, as the computer did not throw up the full
questionnaire.At the Manchester
terminal we only have to walk a few yards to board the already waiting
Birmingham bound bus.This is one of
the newer more comfortable ones with leather seats and all is well until we come
to leave.There’s a problem and we all
have to get off.It turns out that when
the bus arrived the hydraulics lowered it onto the kerb but with all the
passengers on board it had got stuck there and could not back out.With everyone off the driver can inch
backwards and we can set off.Due to
the delay we just miss a connection at Hanley and have to wait almost an hour
for the bus to Market Drayton.It has
stopped raining by the time we arrive so we lug our bags through the town.After 7 hours and 4 buses (total of £13.20
each) we arrive and Mum is delighted to see us.Once we have settled in and caught up on the news I phone to sort
out the sale but Vaughan has had to take his son to hospital so it will have to
wait until tomorrow but at least I get an agreement in principal from Vicky.

MARKET DRAYTON 1

SATURDAY 19 MAY – Manage to speak to Vaughan
and Sue and agree the sale details subject to getting Vicky through the
referencing.Walk up town with Mum and
head to the library to use the internet for a new referencing but find we need
some information that Vicky didn’t give us and we can’t raise her on the
phone.Talk about one step forward and
two steps back!Spend the afternoon
taking photos out of old albums to store in envelopes as they are all going
funny colours from the acid on the old plastic pages.Vicky calls but needs to get the information from her Mum who is
going to be guarantor so still no result.

MARKET DRAYTON 2

SUNDAY 20 MAY – Mum goes to church in the
morning whilst we crack on with paperwork. It’s a lovely day so I join Mum for
a walk up to Tyrley locks and back along the canal.Steve & I go round to Netty’s for a BBQ in the evening and I
get a ride back to Mums in Bobby’s new car

MARKET DRAYTON 3

MONDAY 21 MAY – Mum takes the car to visit her
friend Anne in Loggerheads.I walk to
town and pick up more boxes to store our 10,000+ photos.Agree to the sale of Parkwood Street and
contact our solicitors to make arrangements.Mum is having problems with leaking gutters and Steve thinks the problem
is that they are blocked with moss from the roof.Only last week there was a “House of Horrors” programme showing
how an elderly man had contractors in to clear the moss on his roof at a cost
of £800.Instead of brushing it off they
tried to do a quick job with a high pressure hose, flooded his attic and
blocked and damaged his down pipes with the moss that got washed into
them.Steve reckons he can get up there
and brush it off tomorrow and do a better job for a much better price!In the evening we go out with John & Sue
and their dogs.They drive to
Cheswardine where John’s daughter Sam, husband Mick and 5 year old Oliver join
us for a walk through the forest.The
area amazes us, it is on our doorstep but we didn’t know about it. In the
forest are the remains of an old glass factory where the windows for Litchfield
cathedral were made, as Lord Litchfield owned the land.There’s also a framework of tubes that can
be played by one of the many sticks lying around.We have lots to talk about as they are fellow motorhomers and
have just returned from a 3-month tour of New Zealand.After our long walk we stop off in the pub
on the way home.

MARKET DRAYTON 4

TUESDAY 22 MAY – Steve gets up on the roof to
brush off all the moss that is blocking Mum’s gutters.He does a brilliant job but runs out of
steam when cleaning out the gutters so I return from town to find him soaking
in a hot bath.

MARKET DRAYTON 5

WEDNESDAY 23 MAY – Liverpool is playing in the
Champions League final so we drive up to Madeley to Netty’s.Her son Stuart, whom we haven’t seen for
ages, is there and along with Mark we head to their friends Chris and Trina’s
for a pre match BBQ.There are a number
of other Liverpool fans there and they are all very deflated when Liverpool
lose.David is at the match so he will
also be very disappointed.Return to
Netty & Marks and stay up late playing buzz and songster.

MADELEY

THURSDAY 24 MAY – In Dawley we stop off at
Mentors to discuss a new 5-year contract on our Newport bungalow, Saltershall
Cottage.Returning to Market Drayton we
spot a Police car pulling on to Drayton car park and think it’s Rob Scott, Pete
& Carol’s son.It is and he says he
will call in later to see us.He
arrives just after we have had lunch with Mum.He looks much taller and very different in his Community Police
uniform.After chatting for quite some
time we leave for Yorkshire.Head to
Auntie Pamela’s where Mum is staying overnight before going on the Adriatic
cruise tomorrow.We all dine at the
Walnut Tree “two for one” restaurant and are joined by Karen, Chris and James
and waited on by Sarah.James has
kindly given up his double bed to enable us to stay at Karen’s.Spend lots of time chatting about common
interest in properties, capital gains tax and motorhomes with Chris and
Karen.

WAKEFIELD

FRIDAY 25 MAY – Collect Auntie Pamela and Mum
to take them to Doncaster Robin Hood airport for their flight to Corfu.They look like twins with their brown
cardigans, cream trousers and matching trolley bags and the trolley dollies are
definitely raring to go.Return across
country to Karen’s and spend the afternoon on the Internet until Karen gets
home from work.Once Chris finished
work Karen cooks us all a lovely meal and we stay up chatting.

WAKEFIELD 2

SATURDAY 26 MAY – Chris leaves early on his
motorbike to go to a meeting at a racetrack.Steve is happy to commandeer the remote control and chill out watching
TV.Karen & I had planned and early
visit to the shops but this is delayed when her washing machine breaks down
resulting in over an hours search on the Internet for a new one.At the Ridings shopping centre I get a new
SIM card for my triband mobile phone – my old one was too old to work in the
modern 3g phones!In the evening we
drive up to The Heath on the outskirts of Wakefield.It feels like a million miles from town with the old 12c pub “The
Kings Arms” in the middle of the village green.We are joined by James, his girlfriend Emma and her parents Steve
& Jane, Sarah and her boyfriend Mike and Karen’s friends Brian &
Jill.We pretty much take over the
conservatory for our meals.Brian tells
us of a ghost he once saw in the pub and shows us all the nooks and
crannies.Emma’s parents are recently
retired and soak up lots of motorhome information for future use.

WAKEFIELD 3

SUNDAY 27 MAY – We all get up late and
appreciate a leisurely full cooked breakfast.Steve & Chris drive over to Bradford to collect the new washing
machine whilst I make use of the Internet to arrange some more things for
America and Canada.In the evening
Karen serves a delicious roast beef dinner and we are joined by Mike and
Sarah.It’s been really nice to spend more
time with Karen and family and we feel quite refreshed although extremely full
from over eating.

WAKEFIELD 4

MONDAY 28 MAY – Traffic is light as it’s a
bank holiday and the weather is foul.We call at Mom & Dads for lunch before continuing to Claire’s.We’ve just arrived when we get a real hailstorm.Daniel is away on a Cub Scout camp and we
pick him up at 4pm.He’s had a great
time in spite of the weather.With
Daniel, Natasha and the entire luggage piled into the car we set off for Hull.Arrive early evening to be met by John at
the gate.He’s already been into the
caravan and turned the heating on for us so it’s really cosy.John & Maureen come for a chat later in
the evening and time slips by.It’s
almost 11pm before the kids go to bed, good job they don’t have to go to school
tomorrow.

HULL, YSS

TUESDAY 29 MAY – The weather is still poor so we drive back into Hull to visit “The
Deep”.It’s £3 to park but the parking
ticket includes a £2 “squid” off voucher for in the museum£27 admission for 2 adults and 2 children
and as extras Natasha opts for a headphone set and Daniel an info pack.Corridors lead your above then down and
around the 10m deep pool with displays about the evolution of sea life and the
different species to be seen in the pool.From the shallow area at the top we see one of the staff going in to feed
the fish but as we venture lower sharks and huge stingrays, best seen from a
walk through tunnel, impress us.We’ve
not had enough of the fish so partake in a fish and chip lunch from “Bob
Carvers” before checking out a couple of Hull’s many free museums.Feeling weary we return to YSS where the
kids suddenly find enough energy for a couple of hours in the swimming pool
before tea, the water is lovely and warm so we are happy to join them.

HULL 2, YSS

WEDNESDAY 30 MAY –It’s a very cold night and we
can’t figure out how to turn the gas fire on so linger in bed under the
covers.At least it’s a fine day.Chris calls round for a chat in the morning
then we all head to the pool for a swim before lunch but the water is
noticeably cooler so the kids can’t tempt us in.After watching a DVD for long enough to let our dinner settle we
return to the pool until teatime.

HULL 3, YSS

THURSDAY 31 MAY – Luckily the expected bad weather has not
materialised and we have another nice day.After breakfast and the obligatory session at the swimming pool where we
discover that the heating switch has been tripped and the water even cooler but
this can be remedied.We drive to Asda
for some shopping and for the kids to spend the rest of their holiday and
pocket money.At 2pm we gather at Andy
& Chris’s for an afternoon BBQ and are joined by John & Maureen, Ian
& Sarah.Daniel and Natasha have a
whale of a time playing with the cart that Andy uses for moving logs and also
enjoy the BBQ.In spite of all they
have eaten we still have to feed them again when we get home.Steve & Donna drive over from Beverley
to join us for the evening.We are just
about to go to bed when we see that the movie “Wolf Creek” is on TV, it is
about some back packers who go missing in Australia in an area that we have
visited, don’t think we will be free camping in that area again.